Off-highway vehicles such as wheel loaders, bulldozers, and track loaders, for example, have a bucket or other implement to move soil. The drawbacks of such vehicles are described herein with reference to a bulldozer. However, these same drawbacks are also encountered on all other similar off-highway vehicles.
Typically, the operator must move the earthmoving implement (in the case of a bulldozer the earthmoving implement is a blade) to certain angles while performing a specific task. For example, in a typical bulldozing operation there are three modes in which the bulldozer operates. These modes include a loading mode, a spreading mode and a carrying mode. During the load mode the operator cuts or scrapes the ground to loosen soil, during the carry mode the loosened soil is pushed or carried to a different location, and during the spread mode the soil is dumped or spread in the second location. The blade angle (i.e., the angle of the blade relative to the ground) significantly affects bulldozer performance. Each mode has a different optimum blade angle.
Typically, the bulldozer is repeatedly sequenced through each mode. The operator will begin by loading for a short time until enough soil has been scraped from the work area. Then the operator will carry and spread the soil. The operator will then repeat the sequence. To operate the bulldozer most efficiently, the operator must change the blade angle each time he or she changes modes.
Traditional bulldozer blade controls include a tilt control for the operator to change the blade angle and a lift control to change the blade height. Those controls require the operator to manually adjust the blade angle to the optimum blade angle when changing to a new mode. Changing the blade angle in this manner requires concentration and manual dexterity, which may cause operator fatigue and reduce overall productivity.
It would be preferable to have a blade adjustment feature that automatically moved the blade to the optimum angle for a given mode. The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of these problems.